By Staff Reporter
There is no strategic plan from President Hakainde Hichilema to get this country forward, says former Commerce minister Bob Sichinga.
Speaking with Daily Revelation, Sichinga said he got the impression that when there was no investor from outside to come and investor or an outsider to advise “we can’t live. We stop living.”
He said the country should seriously look at its major sources of revenue, such as mining, arguing that “you cannot be giving at the moment concessions to the mining sector.”
“For what? What are you doing that for? So you have got KCM and then you have got these fellas as Mopani, Glencore, and you are agreeing with them to sell your own assets. You are paying for your own assets. What is going on here? Who was negotiating? Because what does Glencore own? Glencore can only own the plant which you already sold to them and you know the price they paid for it,” Sichinga said. “So How is it possible that you can be paying for your production because they think that it’s making loses? So they know that you too are going to make loses if that’s true…so your source of revenue from the mining sector, from those two mining companies from what we have right now is nonexistent because you are making loses.”
He continued.
“Then you close the likes of Indeni and you start importing the fuels, because the fuels are critical to development and also to operations…but you don’t even have the infrastructure to carry that fuel from Dare-salaam, or from Namibia or from Mozambique or from South Africa. These roads are in a terrible state,” Sichinga argued. “And then you close the plant and you say I am removing all the subsidies. If you can remove all the subsidies why are you subsidizing the mines, because they are the biggest producer of foreign currency? This requires a strategic plan and that’s why I said there is need for a plan.”
Sichinga said as President, the back stops with President Hichilema saying he must manage the issues besetting the nation.
“The President of this Republic can call any citizen he believes can help him in the process. He’s not alone. So this thing is up to him. However, it affects all of us,” Sichinga said. “I don’t think there is a strategic plan. I don’t believe there is a strategic plan which is going to get the country (forward), because if there was we would say okay plan A did not work out, we are going to plan B. What is a plan B for the country? I don’t know it. Do you?”
Sichinga said President Hichilema was elected on the promises he made to the Zambian people that as an economist he was capable of handling situations.
He wondered why the country should be spending money through ZCCM-IH, who have engaged Rothschild to advise on mining.
“You mean this country does not have people who can advise the Zambian government on what needs to be done in the mining sector? Does Rothschild live here? Do they understand what is going on, the dynamics on the Copperbelt or North Western? So what I am saying is that these are choices that are made,” Sichinga said.
He said he was of the view that there was no confidence in the locals by those in the administration.
“The decisions are not just economic, they are political as well. In 1969-71 President Kaunda decided he was going to approach the issue of nationalisation of the mines in a particular way. He took advice. Every political leader asks for advice. So it’s up to the President to decide which advice he’s going to take. If you don’t have money, you can’t be paying for something you can get at a cheaper rate locally. So what is ZCCM-IH doing if it’s not providing that information to the President?” Sichinga asked
He wondered why the President was primarily focused on thinking that the bailout would come from the outside, and that he cautioned about IMF on account of the many geopolitical and economic dynamics that were taking place right now globally.
“I knew this was going to happen. I knew that. I explained that you cannot have just one solution without alternatives, and by that I mean nobody is going to come from outside and solve our problems. Nobody. If they come here they are coming here because they have got money to make. That is the reality whether you are talking about Rothschild,” Sichinga said. “We need to find home grown solutions and we have it. We have alternatives…the question that needs to be answered is now that this has happened, what next?
He said his understanding was that there was a “pingpong” over the IMF, which he said was supported by the United States and the capitalist systems and countries like China on the other side, with China being the biggest lender to Zambia. Sichinga said the first task for the President should have been to take a presidential trip to China, and not even to the United Nations General Assembly.
“Deal with the biggest creditor you are owing $10-11 billion and deal with that at top level…With China because of its political structure you would have to talk to the top leadership so that they can then transmit their decision down to the other levels,” Sichinga said. “…it seems we were not in a state of preparedness ourselves.”
He said the fact that most Zambians are not aware of the conditions demanded from the IMF made it very difficult for people to appreciate the extent of the problem so that they could contribute effectively.
Sichinga further wondered what it was the government wanted to achieve with the $1.4 billion from the IMF as that too has not been made clear by the administration.
“Now we warned (former president Edgar) Lungu and his administration the debt that they were contracting was unsustainable. Then on top of that you haven’t got the sources to deal with anything else. We have talked about the two Eurobonds, but how about the debts that are owing to China itself? There are loans to do with the power station, there is Kafue Lower. That, as far as I know has not been ring fenced. The proceeds of that power have not been ring-fenced. Who is paying for the foreign currency?” Sichinga asked. “Now in Southern Africa, there is a power pool. If we ring-fenced the proceeds that would come from Kafue Lower and say it’s purely for exports then you can take the proceeds from those exports and use them to pay the debt, and say to them let’s finish the power station so that it can be operational at full capacity and the amounts of power generated you sell it to the others because there is shortage of power in the southern African power pool.”
